The First Minister sends best wishes to the Queen on behalf of the people of Scotland

Debbie Clarke

The First Minister has sent Her Majesty The Queen congratulations on behalf of the people of Scotland on Her Majesty’s 90th birthday.

Nicola Sturgeon also confirmed that, in line with Scottish Government flag protocols, the Royal Banner - the Lion Rampant - will be flown from the main Scottish Government building today (Thursday) to mark the special milestone.

The First Minister said: “Many congratulations on behalf of the people of Scotland to Her Majesty The Queen on the occasion of her 90th birthday.

“Just last year, we were fortunate enough to be able to celebrate with Her Majesty as she became the United Kingdom’s longest serving monarch on the day she also opened the new Borders Railway.

“Over the course of that incredible day, it was clear the huge affection Her Majesty had for Scotland and the incredible bond she has forged with the people who live here over her many years of dedicated public service.

“Many thousands across the country will be toasting Her Majesty today as she marks this wonderful milestone and I am delighted that there will be more opportunities for people across Scotland to help her celebrate when she makes her annual visit during Royal Week.”

Meanwhile, the first of three special exhibitions, Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from The Queen’s Wardrobe, opens today at the Palace of Holyroodhouse to celebrate Her Majesty’s 90th birthday.

The group of outfits, which chart Her Majesty’s life and reign from childhood to the present day, represent family, official and ceremonial occasions. It is the largest display of The Queen’s dress ever shown in Scotland.

For public appearances during childhood, Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret often wore formal dress, such as the pink, princess-line coats and matching bonnets in the exhibition.

These outfits were worn by the Princesses, aged nine and five respectively, for a Service of Thanksgiving for the Silver Jubilee of their grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary, at St Paul’s Cathedral on May 6 ,1935.

The Princesses also wore the coats for an official visit to the Palace of Holyroodhouse with their parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937.

The British couturier Norman Hartnell, who was knighted for his services to the Royal Household in 1997, first began designing for the then Princess Elizabeth in the 1940s.

For a State Banquet at the Royal Palace of Bangkok, during Her Majesty’s State Visit to Thailand in February 1972, he created a silk-cotton evening gown for The Queen, encrusted with crystals, sequins, beads and diamantes. The panels of rich golden fabric in the skirt and the coordinating jewelled embroidery are in the colours of the highest order of chivalry in Thailand, the Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri.

The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is second only in precedence to the Order of the Garter and represents the highest honour in Scotland.

As Sovereign Head of the Order, Her Majesty wears the mantle, hat and insignia of the Order on ceremonial occasions, such as the installation of a Knight of the Order at the Thistle Chapel at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.

The mantle, on display for the first time, is of dark-green velvet, lined with white, and is embroidered with a representation of the Star of the Order. The hat of black velvet has a plume of white ostrich feathers and an embroidered badge of a thistle, surrounded by the motto of the Order ‘Nemo me impune lacessit’ (No one harms me with impunity).